Thank you to everyone who helped me to realise my dream of a beautiful lap pool and surround, hidden in a normal Worcester back garden!

Sasha (July 2022)

Thanks To...

• Herlig Marles* - creating a sketch, mood board, plan, and securing permitted development
• Robinson Tree Surgery - removing trees and trimming the remainder
• Planscapes Leisure* - designing the pool and plant room, then digging out the pool, building it all, and continuing its maintenance
• Roofon - building my new shiny black guttering
• Andy from The Retreat - building the fence and coming back later to make a courtesy check and fix!
• Empire Driveways and Landscapes - landscaping dig, gravel prep for decking and paving, laying paving, building shed for plant room, and courtesy-fixing en suite loo drip!
  - engaging and introducing me to several really good sub-contractors, including Andy and Phil
• Elon at Millboard - helping me choose and order the decking
• PW City Carpentry* - building the decking, raised garden bed, and garden gate, repainting the fence, and building the small sheds
• MSB Plumbing - installing the outside shower, and helping mum!
• John Lincoln* - planting and maintaining the new garden
• AML Cleaning - cleaning the entire outside of the property, windows, doors, walls, paving, decking, bins, and then cleaning and sealing the tarmac driveway... good as new!
• My neighbours Helen and Andy for their good-natured patience, support, and hedgehog rescue!

*see more mentions below...

Overall Design

I had the design worked out in my head for a monochrome backdrop with some splashes of colour especially from the blue, blue pool. Goran's black and white zen garden inspired me.

I wanted the pool to remind me of the Adriatic coast of Croatia and Montenegro (where we always holidayed). It took a while to find the right liner, but "Oceanstone" turned out to be perfect!





My garden has a shallow upward slope and I wanted it to be flattened into two levels with different surfaces. Vanessa from Herlig Marles had been a friend since helping me with a previous design project and we got Helen to draw up a design plan to make it clear where everything needed to go. Helen also added some great mood-board ideas!

Pool Build and Maintenance

Planscapes was amazing to work with from start to finish!

Dave got involved 4 years ago when I was hoping for an indoor pool. Brexit and Covid eventually pushed those prices sky-high and last year (during a hot June) I switched to the idea of an outdoor pool...

Planscapes started the dig in December 2021. Jeff, John, and Ian did a great job (often in the rain). In January, they built the pool walls. Dean, Andy, and Chris came to lay the coping stones.

After the landscaping was finished, they came back to install the eclectic cover and weld in the liner. John did an amazing job of creating the jigsaw of pipes in the plant room for the pump, salt generator, air, and water jets. Tim did the electrics.

Every person at Planscapes from Laura on Admin to Chris, who was a new recruit, was hard-working, thoughtful, polite, careful, and helpful! Special mentions to:

• John, who still visits for maintenance and goes out of his way to be helpful. Thanks also for terrifying warnings on pool safety!
• Ian, who is a very good (if loud!) communicator. He was canny at noticing a few things I mentioned that might have been an issue if not addressed. He also helped me put some of Dad's ashes under the foundation near the steps...

RIP Michael Charles Powell

New Trees and Shrubs

John Lincoln has been my gardener for many years and is a good friend to me and my mum. He's been very supportive during all my original indoor pool build headaches. Thank you, John!

He's recently replanted my raised bed and helped me to pick out some good citrus trees for my tubs. The lemon tree has some budding green fruit coming and the flowers smell divine! Gin time soon...

Finishing Touches

Phil and Chris from PW City Carpentry have been super helpful in getting all the finishing touches sorted out, with great attention to detail. They laid the Millboard decking during the original landscaping phase, but then came back to sort out various other things...

Phil built my main side gate, while Chris repainted the fence black. They built the small shed and bin tidy, and my raised garden bed. They also fixed a number of other issues, like reattaching the roof of the plant room, and Phil even sorted out my misaligned garage door!

Jo Downs Shoaling Fish

I couldn't resist these Jo Downs glass fish, modelled here by Amber. I hope they stand up to the weather!

Vanda Powell Designs

I always planned to have some sort of gallery of my mum's work around the pool. I get a company called Bags of Love to print various items with images of Beany's beautiful paintings. I had these melamine plates already made up of her "Curious Currents" underwater series. They make the perfect fence and shed decorations near the pool, as they are weather and shatter-proof. See:

Pool Powell Visitors Gallery